Types of Horse Racing Wagers

This month is the Cheltenham Festival, one of the biggest horse racing events of the year not just in the UK, but in the world.  There is no time like the present to get into betting on horse racing in one of the best horse racing betting sites!  If you are new to this type of betting, you will need to learn all about the different types of wagers you can participate in.  There are several different types of simple bets, as well as a number of more complex exotic wagers you can place. 

Straight Bets

These are the simplest, most straightforward types of bets you can participate in, and a great starting point if you are a newbie.  There are three main types, and with each of them, you are betting on a single horse to do a single thing:

• Win:  You win your bet if the horse wins the race, plain and simple.

• Place:  If your horse finishes first or second, you win your bet.

• Show:  You win if the horse places first, second, or third. 

As you can see, these bets are incredibly easy to understand.  If you feel like trying something a little more complex, you can try one of the following types of exotic wagers:

• Exacta:  To win this bet, you need to select the two horses that will place first and second, and get the order “exactly” right, thus the name “exacta.”

• Trifecta:  You need to guess the first, second, and third place horses in the proper order.

• Superfecta:  Correctly guess the first, second, third, and fourth place horses, again in the right order.

Or you can try a Daily Double, Pick 3, or Pick 4:

• Daily Double:  You need to correctly select the winners of two consecutive races.  The full wager must be placed in advance of the first race (the same goes for the next two types of races as well).

• Pick 3:  You correctly pick the winner of three different races in a row. 

• Pick 4:  The same as Pick 3, only you need to manage four races in a row.

 One more type of exotic bet you can try:

• Head-to-head:  Not all tracks offer this, but it is still a common type of exotic wager, sometimes abbreviated simply “H2H.”  With this type of wager, you choose one of two horses designated in advance.  If your horse wins against the other horse, you win your bet, regardless of the horse’s overall performance.  It does not even have to win, place or show, simply perform better than the other horse.

• Across the board:  This is a win, place, and show bet all on one horse.  You obviously can only win one part of this bet.

• Box:  This is a type of wager where you cover all possible combinations for two or more horses. 

As you can see, once you get to know these terms, they are quite easy to understand, even the exotic bets, most of which essentially fall under two categories.  As you have probably also realised, the risk associated with many of the exotic wagers is higher than the risk you take with a simple win, place, or show bet, but the reward may also be greater if you should win.